Shreyas Iyer: From prolonged T20 snub to captaincy, life comes a full circle

From being dropped from BCCI central contracts’ list for not playing domestic cricket, out of favour for the T20I set-up since end 2023 to be the new T20I captain for India in two years’ time – life has come a full circle for Shreyas Iyer. It had to come at the expense of Suryakumar Yadav who led the country to a successful title defence in the last T20 World Cup only in March, but it’s difficult to counter the fact that his lean run with the bat for more than a year had been a serious cause of concern.

The high-profile selection meeting in Mumbai on Saturday gave a seal of approval to the buzz for the last couple of days that it was end of the road for SKY. One probably did not bargain for the fact that the 35-year-old, a former world No.1 T20 batter who dominated the format between 2022 and 2024, would not even make the side – and this is where the ever-smiling Surya would probably feel shortchanged.

Commenting on the succession of plan after naming the squads for T20I series against Ireland, England and the Asian Games, chief selector Ajit Agarkar responded:  ‘’It’s a tough one, having just won the World Cup but as it happens after most World Cups, you try and reassess what your best way forward is. Partly his (Surya’s) own form, but also looking at the next two-year cycle, or a little bit more than two years now till the next World Cup, we thought this was the best way forward. Like I said, Shreyas is a well-deserving captain.’’

An explanation, which is not without its share of contradictions though. If the powers that-be really considered the Mumbaikar as a ‘well-deserving captain,’’ how come Shreyas last played a T20I for India in December 2023?  Even before Shreyas led Kolkata Knight Riders to an IPL triumph in 2024, he was often considered a potential white ball captain when the rebranded Delhi Capitals showed a resurgence under him between 2020 and 2023

Despite being ignored for the T20I set-up time and again, including the last Asia Cup last year when Shubman Gill entered the fray as vice-captain, Shreyas plundered runs in the 2023 ODI World Cup at home and then the ICC Champions Trophy last year. Ever since crossing over to Punjab Kings in 2025, the Sarpanch – as he is nicknamed as for the swagger in his walk – Shreyas didn’t let the captaincy affect his game as he scored 603 runs in 17 matches in 2025 IPL with strike rate of 175.07 while in the season just gone by, Shreyas accumulated 498 runs with an unbeaten 101 vs Lucknow Super Giants (168.81).

Interestingly enough, it remains to be seen how the chemistry between the new T20 captain and the authoritarian Gambhir pans out in the coming months. There have been unconfirmed reports in the media that while Agarkar backed the choice of Shreyas, the head coach threw in his weight behind Sanju Samson. The later also had considerable experience of captaincy with Rajasthan Royals and had been in a dream form during the last World T20, but then Shreyas finally seems to have got his due after a long wait.

Meanwhile, the powers that-be found it impossible to ignore Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s claims anymore as the 15-year-old became the youngest ever player after Sachin Tendulkar to be named in senior India team in any format.  Tendulkar made his Test debut at 16 years and 205 days and his ODI debut at 16 years and 238 days. Washington Sundar, meanwhile, is India’s youngest T20I debutant, having won his first cap in that format at 18 years.

The selection committee also confirmed that Yashasvi Jaiswal will step in for Virat Kohli - who has pulled out of an upcoming ODI series against Afghanistan at home due to a hamstring injury.

India plays Ireland in two T20Is in Belfast on 26 June and 28, followed by five T20Is in England from 1-11 July.

T20I series vs Ireland: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (VC), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohd. Siraj, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

T20I series vs England: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (VC), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohd. Siraj, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

2026 Asian Games squad: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (VC), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

India A squad for multi-day matches in Sri Lanka: Dhruv Jurel (C & WK), Sai Sudharsan, Ayush Pandey, Devdutt Padikkal (VC), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harsh Dubey, Saransh Jain, Gurnoor Brar, Auqib Nabi, Yash Thakur, Anshul Kamboj, N Jagadeesan (WK), Aman Mokhade, Shaik Rasheed, Zeeshan Ansari.